TALK BACK: Doctor Who – The Snowmen

The Christmas Day showing of Doctor Who is always such a magical time. On the one hand – NEW DOCTOR WHO! On the other hand, there’s usually a holiday theme wedged in among all the tidbits of goodness and the constant yelling of “RUN!”

We want to know what you think. Is a grumpy Doctor a fun bloke, or is he a real downer? Share your thoughts about the episode, down there in the comment section. Who will be the first to share their unedited, unrestrained, unambiguous review of the episode?

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Stephen Schleicher

Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment.

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16 Comments

Wow! What an incredible way to start the new Doctor Who season! Sentient snow creatures, an emotionally damaged old man with a bitter beat up inner child ready to wipe out humanity and replace them with ice people, familiar faces, and a new side of the Doctor I hope never to see again.

It was strange to see the Doctor in such a calloused state. I always thought him above getting so hurt that he would try protect himself from further emotional damage. But I guess that is what makes it so fitting that he would have to face the cold and ice to break through and find his motivation and drive again.

And Oswin! I loved the clever Oswin. She seemed only to be a step behind the Doctor rather than the normal three-ish steps his companions normally seem to be. And the whole time I kept thinking that Oswin looked so familiar, but I just couldn’t place her. Then when Oswin’s identity was revealed, I could barely contain my “OH DAMN! THAT’S WHO SHE IS!”

Overall, holy crap what an amazing episode! The Doctor finds himself in a cold place (physically and metaphorically), has to come face-to-face with what is truly important to him, and with the help of a few odd companions, he is drawn out of the cold to save humanity once again.

That’s exactly what i was thinking! The doctor was just flirting away with souffle girl while river isn’t even mentioned. It did upset me a bit.
I also wasn’t ready for the tardis change. Like, i think its better when they wait for a regeneration to change the tardis.
I guess its just going to take some getting used to seeing the doctor without the ponds :/

I’m already a little bit in love with Oswin can’t wait to find out the rest of her story. Particuarly enjoyed the references to Second Doctor stories The Abominable Snowmen and Web of Fear. I expect we will be seeing a lot more of that kind of thing over the comming year.

My only minor gripe would be that some of the humour felt a little forced not really fitting the overall tone of the episode.

Intresting could be on to something there. My thinking is she could me in a similar situation to Scaroth in City of Death except maybe she dosn’t know it or she’s physcally resurecting some how or she is some kind of clone created to trap the Doctor by an unseen third party.

i loved every bit of it and when he looks in the mirror and relises he put on the bow tie without even relising it or when he said he wasnt going into the house and his hand siglnals 5 minutes i just laughed,bit by bit he trys to walk away but his reflexes get the better of him and for clara to have such an original story line the girl who died twice and is coming back again i cant even come up with a guess of what is going to happen

Had it’s moments, the humor was good, but getting tired of the Doctor always being in love with his companions and the companions being some forced mystery Mary Sue. *cough* River Song *cough* Really hope Oswin turns out to be more interesting than the fourth wall breaking wink in the Dalek episode. :P

Liked the new console, a throw back to the older ones. Wonder if they will still call the Great Intelligence what he was called before, Yog-Sothoth, guessing not. Seems that was supposed to be what House was in the Gaiman episode, maybe they will retcon that or something though.

I liked the Snowmen story, creepy, but still fun. I assumed a Christmassy redemption angel was in store for Dr. Simeon, instead he got icy death…

I really liked the return of the ensemble from ‘A Good Man Goes to War’. I wouldn’t mind seeing them as recurring characters here and there to provide some additional support and interplay for the Doctor and Clara. Strax had most of the best lines in the episode, and I really like his warrior nature, conflicting with his duties as a nurse. Good stuff.

The thing about Doctor Who, to me anyway, is that the episodes are infrequent enough that the brief appearances on the schedule are always welcome. I tend to be far more forgiving of plot holes, goofy notions, or uneven characterizations, for Who, than any other show in production. As Christmas specials go this one was a little less stand-alone than some of the others and seemed more like a season premiere with the new companion (and her new mystery), new Tardis console, and re-energized Doctor.

“As Christmas specials go this one was a little less stand-alone than some of the others and seemed more like a season premiere with the new companion (and her new mystery), new Tardis console, and re-energized Doctor.”

I think this is supposed to be the first step towards the anniversary year even though it is technically both a Christmas special and still mid-season because they split this season up, so they crammed it full of “new” stuff to prepare us a bit and hop right into a story when the season resumes.

I also think it was a hint at things to come with seeing some past allies of the Doctor in the episode. With the anniversary year, I’m expecting a lot of history to be touched on one way or another (such as returns of old characters or races we haven’t seen in a while or even since the series revival).

Agreed about set-up for the 50th. My knowledge of Classic Doctor Who lore is pretty spotty. I learned post-Special that the Great Intelligence is an old 2nd Doctor Villain who made his ‘First’ chronological appearance in this special, making it a prequel of sorts to subsequent adventures. The London Underground tin apparently plays a part in a 2nd Doctor story featuring the Great Intelligence.

I was upset when they killed off Strax in “A Good Man Goes to War,” and so seeing him alive and very possibly the perfect sidekick for the Doctor made this episode a winner for me. Add in the bit that makes this a prequel for the Second Doctor stories “The Abominable Snowmen” and “The Web of Fear,” the new opening credits (with the return of the Doctor’s face!), the mystery of Clara Oswin Oswald, and, of course, the lovely Jenna-Louise Coleman (all of the companions have been pretty, but she is seriously, makes-your-heart-go-pitter-pat cute), and this was a great episode.

My only nitpick is that in the redesign of the TARDIS they seem to have forgotten the roundels on the walls, but otherwise even that’s great.

Great episode, but what got me with an OMFG moment was the Coming Soon trailer, is that borg tech on his face???? People are saying it does look organic, so who knows what that is. I am kinda glad they are finally getting back to the Silence storyline, but why bring back the woman who was over them? Was hoping they killed her off, hope I am wrong though and it is something else.

I forgot all about it and only caught the second half because I was channel surfing. I’m interested in future stuff about Oswin but maybe I missed something in the first half but I thought it was a bit of a cop out that things were going bad when suddenly the villain is defeated because a family started crying and the snowmen magically melted.

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